Montana lawmakers allege disability discrimination in fight over psychiatric facility

The city of Laurel this week adamantly denied allegations that it is discriminating against people with disabilities by fighting with the state about a psychiatric facility it intends to build outside of town. 

The allegations came Thursday in a meeting of the Long-Range Planning Interim Budget Committee. Lawmakers there voted unanimously to send a letter to Laurel city officials, saying they could be violating civil rights laws by declining to annex a plot of state land slated for construction of a 32-bed forensic psychiatric facility. The state wants the land annexed so it can receive city water to operate the facility, but the city has a freeze on annexations, saying its water supply can’t support any more development. 

In particular, the lawmakers said they believed the city was violating the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Fair Housing Act.

“Obviously we’re pretty disappointed,” Mayor Kris Vogele said in a phone call with Montana Free Press Monday.

The letter itself does not trigger the start of an investigation. During the committee meeting, Sen. John Esp, R-Big Timber, said the Legislature itself wouldn’t investigate Laurel, but another entity, such as the Montana Human Rights Commission or a federal agency, could.

Sen. Ellie Boldman, D-Missoula, said during the meeting she expected to get pushback from the letter. 

“As a member of the state Legislature, we’re not unfamiliar to municipalities or counties interpreting things differently from us, and so I suspect that they will be irritated,” Boldman said. “But I would hope that they would take our recommendation under advisement and do the right thing and not discriminate.” 

The proposed facility is a key part of the state’s plan to address a backlog at the state hospital and in county jails, where there aren’t enough beds in mental health facilities to meet demand.  

An attorney for the city of Laurel received a copy of the letter about an hour and a half before the meeting last week, Vogele said. That’s how city staff first learned about it. He and others with the city watched the hearing and sent a five-page response the next day asking the committee to reconsider and to review a packet of city engineering, water study and other records “before making any further finding regarding the City’s motives or legal obligations.” 

Vogele said he hasn’t heard back, but he acknowledged Monday was a holiday. 

“The City of Laurel recognizes the very real need for appropriate forensic psychiatric and mental-health services in Montana,” Vogele wrote in a statement to media outlets Monday. “People with mental illness and disabilities deserve dignity, treatment, and appropriate care. That has never been the issue.”

Laurel has been dealing with a slew of problems related to its water infrastructure, including water intake failures, low water pressure in parts of the city and proposed subdivisions inside city limits that the city is uncertain it can supply, Vogele has explained in documents sent to state officials objecting to their plans for the facility. The city passed a one-year moratorium on annexation in September that made permanent a temporary freeze dating back to the spring.

In addition to the letter it sent Laurel last week, the interim committee voted 4-3 to recommend to the Legislative Finance Committee that state funding be suspended to any local government under investigation for alleged discrimination. 

In his response, Vogele demanded specifics from the committee regarding any investigation Laurel was subject to.

“If the Committee believes Laurel is presently ‘under investigation,’ identify the investigating agency, complaint or case number, date opened, statutory basis, and present procedural status,” he wrote. “The Committee’s own letter and discussion should not be treated as a substitute for a formal investigation or finding.”

During the committee’s deliberations, Boldman touted the move as a routine way to leverage pressure.

“I don’t see it that way,” Rep. Scott Rosenzweig, D-Bozeman, one of the opposing votes, said. “It looks like blackmail.” 

One of the other members to vote no on the funding restriction was Rep. Paul Tuss, D-Havre. 

“I just don’t want a municipality to get caught in the crosshairs of something that they didn’t do,” Tuss said. 

Rep. Mike Vinton, R-Billings, was the other no vote. Voting yes were Senators Esp, Boldman, Josh Kassmier, R-Fort Benton, and Rep. John Fitzpatrick, R-Anaconda. 

Boldman responded to Tuss’ and Rosenzweig’s concerns, saying it was good policy to tie funding to compliance with civil rights laws. 

“I’m actually really proud that this [recommendation] is doing this,” Boldman said. “This is great. This is how we enforce civil rights in the state of Montana.”

The state is still defending itself in a lawsuit from a group of Laurel residents who argue the state hasn’t adequately addressed concerns about water supply from locals.